Football: My plan to fix CCS’s Open Division debate

I have a plan. It might not be a perfect plan, but I am convinced it would ease the sting the public-school proponents on this blog felt this weekend after watching Terra Nova, Wilcox and Pioneer lose in the first round of the Central Coast Section Open Division football playoffs.

My plan keeps much of the current system in place, does not eliminate any of the 40 teams from the field but has a few significant changes.

As with the CCS Open Division format basketball introduced last season, my plan does not penalize teams (at least not at the CCS level) for playing in the Open.

Basketball guaranteed that all teams in the Open advance to the NorCal regionals. My plan would not be that enticing, but it would not be as cutthroat as the system is now.

In other words, league champions Terra Nova, Wilcox and Pioneer would not be on the couch this week while teams from their leagues (Menlo-Atherton, Sacred Heart Prep, Piedmont Hills, Milpitas, Los Gatos, Palo Alto) are still playing.

How does my plan work?

It calls for the CCS expanding its playoffs to six divisions (Open, I, II, III, IV, V) and leaving a semifinal spot in Divisions I, II, III and IV for the four teams that lose in the first round of the Open.

In the CCS’s current system, 32 teams are separated by enrollment after the eight Open teams are determined.

With my plan, the Open first-round loser with the highest enrollment would slide into the Division I semifinals, the Open first-round loser with the second-highest enrollment would slide into the Division II semifinals and so forth.

This plan still keeps the Open’s David vs. Goliath story lines — and the public vs. private debate — but does not make “A” league champions opening-round sitting ducks (in most cases) for stronger West Catholic Athletic League teams without any sort of fall back.

If my plan were in place this year, the WCAL would still be favored to win three (I am counting St. Ignatius) of the six divisions.

But my idea certainly does not penalize “A” teams for winning league championships (i.e. sending them to the Open for a likely one-and-done) while giving teams that don’t win those leagues a better chance to win a section title in lower divisions.

For those who argue that this plan rewards teams for losing, I say it happens in other sports at the high-school level all the time. In girls volleyball, for instance, even the section runners-up advance to the NorCals.